What is Heaven?
The Revelation of Jesus
Who will You See in Heaven?
The Story of Heaven and
The Glory of God.
(Part 4)
The Purpose of this Post is to expose the reader to the Direct Imagery and symbolism, and Revelation that comes from the Word of God, regarding the Character and Nature of the King of Heaven, who is also LORD, Judge, Savior, and Friend to Those who have responded to His Call and His Invitation to become Saints, and Holy Children in his Family. The Objective goal here is to “See & Know,” the One who is Upon the Throne, who is in Heaven from His own reliable though sometimes scary perspective and not from man’s watered down or diluted version of Him.
It is not expected that the reader should grasp all the meaning, and soak up all the knowledge, and commanded all the philosophy, imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and their equivalents in the spiritual realm, in one sitting. It is expected that would could spend a lifetime gazing into this picture of heaven and still be growing in their personal understanding of the below message.
May God’s Grace and Favor prepare your heart, mind, soul, and strength, to drink in what God has freely given to you, to build you up, make you strong, and to fee your spirit from His Word.
Here is a brief summary of what is contained below:
- The commission of John to write down what he saw and heard.
- The Exhortation to Read this Prophecy.
- The Message intended for the 7 Churches.
- The Relationship between John, Jesus, the 7 churches, and ourselves,
- The judgment of sinners who will wail when they see him, because of the Wrath of God will be upon Him to bring justice, and to right every wrong.
- The 9 physical descriptions of Jesus.
- The 5 declarations of Jesus
Legend of Colors: (Showing Who’s Who)
- Jesus
- John
- 7 Churches & 7 Spirits
- God, Father
- The Word of God
- The Testimony of God
- Us: The Readers & Hearers (Believers, Stewards & Witnesses of this Revelation)
- The Enemies of Jesus
Revelation 1:1-20 (KJV)
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him [Jesus], to shew unto his servants [Jesus’ servants] things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And [He] hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,
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- clothed with a garment down to the foot,
- and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14
- His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow;
- and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15
- And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace;
- and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16
- And he had in his right hand seven stars:
- and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword:
- and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not;
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- I am the first and the last: 18
- I am he that liveth,
- and was dead; and,
- behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen;
- and have the keys of hell and of death.
[Here is John’s Commandment that He received from Jesus …]
- 19 Write the things which thou hast seen,
- and the things which are,
- and the things which shall be hereafter;
[Verse 19, gives us the clue as to how the Book is Divided up into basically, 3 parts:
1) Chapter One,
2) Chapters 2 & 3, and
3) Chapters 4 to the End]
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Note: John was commanded to write this Revelation of Jesus down. He didn’t take this responsibility on himself. He was commissioned and commanded by Jesus to write down what he had seen and heard. That is the pattern of all prophetic Books in the Bible.
2 Peter 1:19-21 (KJV)
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
[That is exactly what John is doing above.]
Volumes of Books and Articles have been written about this passage, but Here is a brief summary of what was contained above:
- The commission of John to write down what he saw and heard.
- The Exhortation to Read this Prophecy.
- The Message is commanded to be to the 7 Churches.
- The Relationship between John, Jesus, the 7 churches, and ourselves,
- The judgment of sinners who will wail when they see him, because of the Wrath of God will be upon Him to bring justice to all the evil that has been done.
- The 9 physical descriptions of Jesus.
- The 5 declarations of Jesus
The Purpose of this Post is to expose the reader to the Direct Imagery and symbolism, and revelation that comes from the Word of God, regarding the Character and Nature of the King of Heaven, who is also LORD, Judge, Savior, and Friend to Those who have responded to His Call and His Invitation to become Saints, and Holy Children in his Family.
One Strong Take Away Point:
The Real Jesus, you see above in Revelation Chapter One, is not your average hippie type that loves everybody, with “unconditional love” [which BTW, is not in the Bible] and is accepting of all people, [especially accepting and forgiving of Christians] no matter what they are doing. [Such a Jesus does not exist except in false religion.]
Nothing could be farther from the Truth. Yes. Jesus is Loving & Merciful, but Jesus is also Just and Righteous. We cannot divorce Jesus Love from His Justice. He is commissioned to bring down the Wrath of God, The Pain and Suffering of God, and to execute the Full vengeance & retribution of God, upon all who have been disobedient, rebellious, unresponsive, and have not repented of their sins, or have created a hypocritical religion that doesn’t Honor God, Obey, and serve God, God’s Way, but instead honors the traditions of men thus replacing the Word of God, with the word of men.
As the reader will quickly discover from reading the next two chapters (Revelation 2 & 3), Jesus is no respecter of persons. He is just as harsh towards those inside the Church that are doing wrong, and possibly even more so, than those outside the Church and who are also doing Wrong.
As Jesus evaluates the conduct and the works of each of the 7 Churches, only two churches get high marks (with nothing bad said against them), two churches get failing grades (with nothing good said about them), and three churches get mixed reviews with some good said, and some bad things that need to be corrected or serious judgments will shortly follow.
Please Note: Everything written in the Book of Revelation is written from God’s Perspective. Many people complain incessantly about everything God says from His own perspective. People get upset when God doesn’t fit into the little box they have created for Him. How DARE GOD for being bigger than their little box. As such, people get easily offended. They are quick to openly judge, mock, and hate God, because they don’t like His Perspective. And they hate who He is and for what He stands for.
Such is the same kind of animosity criminals have towards righteous police, righteous judges, and righteous and court systems set up righteous laws to protect citizens from criminal activity. Why should a criminal hate such a system? Why? because criminals want to commit crimes. It is the same with sinners who hate God.
Therefore, it is advisable that the reader not get caught up in the mocking and judging spirit that is so prevalent in our modern world.
God is humble, but never mistake God’s or Jesus’ Humility for impotence. That is a grave mistake that people in the world have been making for centuries.Their time for rebellion is about to close. Their sin, witchcraft, idolatry, partying, and sexual immorality, is close to the very end of the rope. As things progress in the direction of sin, the hardness of heart always increases, and the sensitivity to God and His Perspective decrease, and people get even more and more offended, when confronted by their sin. (See the Testimony of Sodom and Gomorrah, from God’s Perspective: Genesis Chapters 18 & 19).
Note: That Jesus, the same person that walked on water, and fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, is the Same Person that rained down sulphur and brimstone upon Sodom. Never forget who he is, lest you suffer greatly, and needlessly.
Shalom,
BT
Follow up Study, Daniel has a revelation of Jesus in Babylon, very similar to John some 500 years previous to John’s encounter with Jesus on Patmos. Check that out here.